WWE Injuries and Personnel Notes (*Very Minor NXT UK Spoilers*)

[Big Red Machine]

Source: www.F4WOnline.com


Dave Meltzer has sent in the following in regards to injuries that took place over the weekend:

There was an injury scare last night as Drew McIntyre seemed to have suffered a knee injury during a house show in Tupelo, MS. The match had to go home early, but he is believed to be fine.

Noam Dar suffered what could possibly be a serious knee injury suffered in a match against Mark Andrews during the NXT UK tapings yesterday. He is to be examined in the US when he comes back.

Mark Andrews was knocked out during the match with Dar. It may be a concussion, but the belief is that it wasn’t too serious.


Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.



Matt Riddle made his debut on UpUpDownDown playing A Nightmare on Elm Street.



Dave Schilling, who has written in the past for Bleacher Report, VICE and The Guardian says that he will be joining the WWE creative team next month.

[Serujuunin]

Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.

So, in the last month I've watched all of NXT from 2014 to 2018, and I have a whole new appreciation for Aleister Black- he very quickly became my favorite guy on NXT, and this makes me kind of sad.

[Big Red Machine]

Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.

So, in the last month I've watched all of NXT from 2014 to 2018, and I have a whole new appreciation for Aleister Black- he very quickly became my favorite guy on NXT, and this makes me kind of sad.

Thoughts on:
1. The Sami Zayn title chase?
2. That four-way for the title between Breeze, Zayn, Neville, and Tyson Kidd?
3. The whole Nattie/TJ "Nattie's husband" deal?
4. The push of women's wrestling in general?
5. The particular journeys of the Horsewomen in particular?
6. The whole Ciampa/Gargano story?
7. American Alpha vs. Revivial?
8. The "Who Attacked Aleister Black?" mystery?
9. BFF?
10. Alexa Bliss! as a babyface?


Also, is there anyone whose main roster tenure you now see in a different light?


Also, when you have the chance, go back and watch May-September of 2013. You absolutely need to see Bo Dallas' heel turn and the Emma/Summer Rae feud.

[Serujuunin]

Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.

So, in the last month I've watched all of NXT from 2014 to 2018, and I have a whole new appreciation for Aleister Black- he very quickly became my favorite guy on NXT, and this makes me kind of sad.

Thoughts on:
1. The Sami Zayn title chase?
2. That four-way for the title between Breeze, Zayn, Neville, and Tyson Kidd?
3. The whole Nattie/TJ "Nattie's husband" deal?
4. The push of women's wrestling in general?
5. The particular journeys of the Horsewomen in particular?
6. The whole Ciampa/Gargano story?
7. American Alpha vs. Revivial?
8. The "Who Attacked Aleister Black?" mystery?
9. BFF?
10. Alexa Bliss! as a babyface?


Also, is there anyone whose main roster tenure you now see in a different light?


Also, when you have the chance, go back and watch May-September of 2013. You absolutely need to see Bo Dallas' heel turn and the Emma/Summer Rae feud.

Oh goodness. This might end up being an essay lol.

1. I loved it. I think it was the perfect embodiment of an underdog babyface with something to prove, not to management or fans, but to himself. It's an easy character archetype, but so so effective if you give it to the right person, and Sami is exactly that. And we got a series of awesome matches out of it, so that's awesome. I find that the more character development goes into something, the more invested I am because of how important characters are to me. Even if the story isn't super good, if the characters are good, I'm invested- I'm sure I've said this somewhere else on the forum before.
2. The match itself took a bit to win me over- I'm not a fan of fatal four ways usually, it makes the in-ring story harder to follow, but all four of these guys just wrecked it. The story of Tyson trying to prove himself as more than "Nattie's husband", and Sami being the underdog babyface, like he's just so good at, was told so well through the match, and how Sami got the crowd more and more behind him as the match went on was super cool also. Neville of course is the champion against the odds, and I like when a face has that role because rather than being solved by dirty tactics, it's solved by heart and determination and mind-blowing athleticism, in Neville's case, and Breeze being the opportunistic heel... I just feel like most of the big character archetypes in wrestling are accounted for and worked to considerable effect. And Tyson is way better than people ever gave him credit for, it makes me sad that he got injured and never got the recognition he should have. I will have to rewatch the fallout I think, because I wonder if I missed it or just don't remember, but the finish was kind of teasing Neville turning heel. It was a fun match!
3. I think Tyson deserved a better gimmick than this, which was unfortunate, but he made it work. Particularly the little things like pulling Nattie in front of him as a shield. I think if they'd put a little bit more into it, it would have been more compelling, but it was just nice to see him get used at all, to be honest. I have a special fondness for Tyson and Nattie, being from the same hometown and all.
4. I felt like there wasn't really anything to the women's division but the Horsewomen, to be honest. A lot of the women's division's "main event" scene was just those four and everyone else seemed like they were on a completely different level. I mean, I get it, but it made everything less compelling when they weren't fighting each other. Once we got people like Asuka and Ember, it started feeling a bit more varied, except that knowing that Asuka would go on to be undefeated in NXT took a lot of the drama out of things. That sucked a bit.
5. It's so surreal seeing all the top faces in the women's division on the main roster now in the infancies of the characters we've come to love and expect on the main roster, and watching the characters develop into the ones we see now. It is, however, a little sad, knowing that Becky would spend so much time doing nothing and that Bayley would be so thoroughly ruined. I think out of all of them, Sasha changed the least, which doesn't surprise me. She has a special kind of attitude that I think serves her well when they give her the right material.
6. Those two are money together. Whether they're teaming or feuding. They have a natural chemistry that just gels together, and Gargano, beyond being one of my favourite guys in NXT ever, is another example of the perfect perennial babyface underdog. Ciampa, as a heel, is absolutely believable as being 100% evil, 100% black, rotted heart, and I love it. He makes it so easy to hate him, and I mean genuinely, emotionally hate him, not just because you're supposed to because he's a heel. I was legitimately mad when he beat Aleister though, but that was an emotional response, not a logical one. I guess that goes to show how effective both of them are as characters. And I swear, Mauro is right when he says they need to test Gargano's DNA, the things he does are unbelievable- not just the things he actually does, but all the things he can endure. He's a freaking iron man. I worry for all the recent callups except Ciampa, to be fair, because I think the energy he has as a heel is going to captivate people enough that they'll have to pay attention. I actively had to stop watching sometimes because the stuff Ciampa did to Gargano was unsettling, and I'm not even squeamish or sensitive in that regard.
7. This honestly made me love tag team wrestling again. That and the Revival and DIY. I always appreciated the Revival but I was never super into their in-ring style until this feud. I don't know what more I can say about it to be honest... Except that my perspective of Jordan was unfairly colored because of the stupid shit he did on RAW. I tried really hard to put that out of my head but it wasn't happening lol.
8. I'll be honest, I just got this far last night. I was so so mad when it happened until I realized that it was to cover an injury (I didn't realize that Aleister had become an emotional favourite really until here), but I will have to carry on watching to see how it concludes before I can have a real opinion (I have my suspicions, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers).
9. I dislike all female stables generally, to be fair. And I was never a fan of Summer Rae either, so that was two strikes- I know completely that it was an unfair emotional judgement to make on them before they really had a chance to win me over, but I just couldn't get over it. And their name was so, so stupid. Why can't female stables have normal names like male stables?
10. I hated Alexa as a babyface so much it was unreal. It felt so unnatural that I was just waiting and waiting for the heel turn to come and I think I actively breathed a sigh of relief when it happened. She's another one that's just naturally a fabulous heel that I don't think she should ever be a babyface (like Randy Orton or Samoa Joe). The cheerleader thing was just...... weird.

Knowing where a lot of people went with their careers once they got called up, I wished so desperately that they wouldn't have. It made me appreciate NXT so much more, and hate the "callup syndrome" just that much more. And it made me fear even more for Gargano and Ricochet, and Aleister in particular, because they're just too hamfisted to handle a character with any sort of nuance. So many of the NXT callups had all the potential in the world to blow RAW and Smackdown out of the water, and especially when they had the opportunity to recreate things like Balor/Owens or Balor/Joe on the main roster and ruined it. Or the famous failure of Styles/Nakamura... If I were an NXT superstar and got the callup, I think I would actively say "no, I'm good". Barring the Shield, the only one I think that benefited from being on the main roster was Charlotte, and recently Becky, and that's not okay. Not with the caliber of talent they have.

I'll add something else here that wasn't asked, but I feel like it's worth mentioning all the same... I just dont get the Velveteen Dream. I'm not sold on his work, I'm not sold on his promos, I'm not sold on his character... I'm just not into it. I'm only in August 2018 but he hasn't yet won anything that really mattered so I have no idea why he continued to hover around the main event.

Yeah, that became an essay, my bad.

[Big Red Machine]

8. I'll be honest, I just got this far last night. I was so so mad when it happened until I realized that it was to cover an injury (I didn't realize that Aleister had become an emotional favourite really until here), but I will have to carry on watching to see how it concludes before I can have a real opinion (I have my suspicions, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers).
9. I dislike all female stables generally, to be fair. And I was never a fan of Summer Rae either, so that was two strikes- I know completely that it was an unfair emotional judgement to make on them before they really had a chance to win me over, but I just couldn't get over it. And their name was so, so stupid. Why can't female stables have normal names like male stables?
10. I hated Alexa as a babyface so much it was unreal. It felt so unnatural that I was just waiting and waiting for the heel turn to come and I think I actively breathed a sigh of relief when it happened. She's another one that's just naturally a fabulous heel that I don't think she should ever be a babyface (like Randy Orton or Samoa Joe). The cheerleader thing was just...... weird.

8. As a writer, I'm particularly interested in your take on it.

9. I think watching Summer Rae's NXT run is key to understanding what her character is/was/could've/should've been, as I think the whole Fandango thing completely torpedoed her by getting her typecast as "Fandango's dance partner" and then once they broke them up they had no idea what to do with her because she had no real character. I thought she had a lot of potential to be a kind of Miz-like heel who can be dangerous in the right situations, but who mostly thrives on being arrogant and then having the babyface pop her ego-balloon.
I'm not going to say that you're wrong about the name, but I thought it fit in well with Summer's "SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT" persona. She is the sort of person who would give her stable a buzzword name.

Knowing where a lot of people went with their careers once they got called up, I wished so desperately that they wouldn't have. It made me appreciate NXT so much more, and hate the "callup syndrome" just that much more. And it made me fear even more for Gargano and Ricochet, and Aleister in particular, because they're just too hamfisted to handle a character with any sort of nuance. So many of the NXT callups had all the potential in the world to blow RAW and Smackdown out of the water, and especially when they had the opportunity to recreate things like Balor/Owens or Balor/Joe on the main roster and ruined it. Or the famous failure of Styles/Nakamura... If I were an NXT superstar and got the callup, I think I would actively say "no, I'm good". Barring the Shield, the only one I think that benefited from being on the main roster was Charlotte, and recently Becky, and that's not okay. Not with the caliber of talent they have.

I'm working on an article about this because it's the sort of thing that needs addressing. The fans' reaction to a top developmental act being called up to the main roster where he/she will theoretically get even more time on TV to entertain us should not be "OH NO!"

I'll add something else here that wasn't asked, but I feel like it's worth mentioning all the same... I just dont get the Velveteen Dream. I'm not sold on his work, I'm not sold on his promos, I'm not sold on his character... I'm just not into it. I'm only in August 2018 but he hasn't yet won anything that really mattered so I have no idea why he continued to hover around the main event.

He's definitely hit or miss, depending on the person. I find him kind of fun. Wait until you finish 2018 and get back to me, because I think post-SummerSlam is when his character really begins to feel more nuanced.

[Serujuunin]

8. I'll be honest, I just got this far last night. I was so so mad when it happened until I realized that it was to cover an injury (I didn't realize that Aleister had become an emotional favourite really until here), but I will have to carry on watching to see how it concludes before I can have a real opinion (I have my suspicions, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers).
9. I dislike all female stables generally, to be fair. And I was never a fan of Summer Rae either, so that was two strikes- I know completely that it was an unfair emotional judgement to make on them before they really had a chance to win me over, but I just couldn't get over it. And their name was so, so stupid. Why can't female stables have normal names like male stables?
10. I hated Alexa as a babyface so much it was unreal. It felt so unnatural that I was just waiting and waiting for the heel turn to come and I think I actively breathed a sigh of relief when it happened. She's another one that's just naturally a fabulous heel that I don't think she should ever be a babyface (like Randy Orton or Samoa Joe). The cheerleader thing was just...... weird.

8. As a writer, I'm particularly interested in your take on it.

Well right now, I'm annoyed that it's Regal doing the investigation because with an attack that was supposedly this bad, I would think that the local police would be on it. I can't wrap my head around that one little detail and it's kind of ruining it for me. I just finished the bit where Nikki came in and implicated Ciampa and/or the Dream... And that was so odd I can't even perceive what I just saw.

9. I think watching Summer Rae's NXT run is key to understanding what her character is/was/could've/should've been, as I think the whole Fandango thing completely torpedoed her by getting her typecast as "Fandango's dance partner" and then once they broke them up they had no idea what to do with her because she had no real character. I thought she had a lot of potential to be a kind of Miz-like heel who can be dangerous in the right situations, but who mostly thrives on being arrogant and then having the babyface pop her ego-balloon.
I'm not going to say that you're wrong about the name, but I thought it fit in well with Summer's "SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT" persona. She is the sort of person who would give her stable a buzzword name.

I suppose that I can go back and give it a better look once I'm caught up, to give it a fair shake. I did watch a lot of her stuff in NXT and I dunno, she just didn't gel with me. I do like how expressive she is in the ring though, I wish more people, men and women, would do that. It's such a small thing that adds so much to the story.

Edit: I was right the whole time about who attacked Aleister. I don't know if that's a sign of lazy storytelling, or if I'm just that good

[Big Red Machine]

8. I'll be honest, I just got this far last night. I was so so mad when it happened until I realized that it was to cover an injury (I didn't realize that Aleister had become an emotional favourite really until here), but I will have to carry on watching to see how it concludes before I can have a real opinion (I have my suspicions, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers).
9. I dislike all female stables generally, to be fair. And I was never a fan of Summer Rae either, so that was two strikes- I know completely that it was an unfair emotional judgement to make on them before they really had a chance to win me over, but I just couldn't get over it. And their name was so, so stupid. Why can't female stables have normal names like male stables?
10. I hated Alexa as a babyface so much it was unreal. It felt so unnatural that I was just waiting and waiting for the heel turn to come and I think I actively breathed a sigh of relief when it happened. She's another one that's just naturally a fabulous heel that I don't think she should ever be a babyface (like Randy Orton or Samoa Joe). The cheerleader thing was just...... weird.

8. As a writer, I'm particularly interested in your take on it.

Well right now, I'm annoyed that it's Regal doing the investigation because with an attack that was supposedly this bad, I would think that the local police would be on it. I can't wrap my head around that one little detail and it's kind of ruining it for me. I just finished the bit where Nikki came in and implicated Ciampa and/or the Dream... And that was so odd I can't even perceive what I just saw.

9. I think watching Summer Rae's NXT run is key to understanding what her character is/was/could've/should've been, as I think the whole Fandango thing completely torpedoed her by getting her typecast as "Fandango's dance partner" and then once they broke them up they had no idea what to do with her because she had no real character. I thought she had a lot of potential to be a kind of Miz-like heel who can be dangerous in the right situations, but who mostly thrives on being arrogant and then having the babyface pop her ego-balloon.
I'm not going to say that you're wrong about the name, but I thought it fit in well with Summer's "SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT" persona. She is the sort of person who would give her stable a buzzword name.

I suppose that I can go back and give it a better look once I'm caught up, to give it a fair shake. I did watch a lot of her stuff in NXT and I dunno, she just didn't gel with me. I do like how expressive she is in the ring though, I wish more people, men and women, would do that. It's such a small thing that adds so much to the story.

Edit: I was right the whole time about who attacked Aleister. I don't know if that's a sign of lazy storytelling, or if I'm just that good

Summer had a match with Sasha Banks at one point (I think on Main Event) where whenever she got Sasha in some basic hold she would start trash-talking and then Sasha would reverse it and Summer would start screaming in pain like a wimp heel. She's probably my favorite "in-match talker" aside from Kevin Owens.


The "why didn't they call the cops?" thing falls into a category that i like to refer to as the unwritten kayfabe rules of pro wrestling. Based on my years of observation, it seems like (within kayfabe) pro wrestling is something of a closed society , and one with a sense of frontier justice as well. The way a babyface gets revenge on someone who wrongs him/her is ultimately via inflicting punishment and proving his/her superiority over the foe in a professional wrestling match. Hence why it's almost exclusively heels who call the cops on someone in pro wrestling; calling the cops is inherently cowardly because it is a sign that you can't take care of business yourself. When a babyface does it, it's usually as part of a larger plan to use the threat of arrest to force the heel to face his/her justice in the ring (like Steph getting arrested for slapping Brie when Brie was kayfabe fired). Thus Regal is honor-bound to conduct the investigation himself.

My big issue with the storyline was the reveal. Rather than Regal solving the mystery himself we got deus-ex-crazy-Scotish-woman, which also resulted in several weeks (maybe even over a month) of the entire story being "Nikki knows but won't tell anyone" and it was just weeks and weeks of Nikki hopping around backstage singing "I know, I know" while Regal somehow managed to suppress his frustration and not scream "JUST TELL ME ALREADY YOU STUPID COW!"

I thought that Nikki whole deal was not just going to be a pointless red herring but rather that one of them (probably Ciampa) had done an entirely different evil deed and that was what Nikki saw, which would have set up Ciampa's feud for that TakeOver while Gargano faced Aleister Black.



Also... your thoughts on Dakota Kai?

[Serujuunin]

8. As a writer, I'm particularly interested in your take on it.

Well right now, I'm annoyed that it's Regal doing the investigation because with an attack that was supposedly this bad, I would think that the local police would be on it. I can't wrap my head around that one little detail and it's kind of ruining it for me. I just finished the bit where Nikki came in and implicated Ciampa and/or the Dream... And that was so odd I can't even perceive what I just saw.

9. I think watching Summer Rae's NXT run is key to understanding what her character is/was/could've/should've been, as I think the whole Fandango thing completely torpedoed her by getting her typecast as "Fandango's dance partner" and then once they broke them up they had no idea what to do with her because she had no real character. I thought she had a lot of potential to be a kind of Miz-like heel who can be dangerous in the right situations, but who mostly thrives on being arrogant and then having the babyface pop her ego-balloon.
I'm not going to say that you're wrong about the name, but I thought it fit in well with Summer's "SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT" persona. She is the sort of person who would give her stable a buzzword name.

I suppose that I can go back and give it a better look once I'm caught up, to give it a fair shake. I did watch a lot of her stuff in NXT and I dunno, she just didn't gel with me. I do like how expressive she is in the ring though, I wish more people, men and women, would do that. It's such a small thing that adds so much to the story.

Edit: I was right the whole time about who attacked Aleister. I don't know if that's a sign of lazy storytelling, or if I'm just that good

Summer had a match with Sasha Banks at one point (I think on Main Event) where whenever she got Sasha in some basic hold she would start trash-talking and then Sasha would reverse it and Summer would start screaming in pain like a wimp heel. She's probably my favorite "in-match talker" aside from Kevin Owens.

The "why didn't they call the cops?" thing falls into a category that i like to refer to as the unwritten kayfabe rules of pro wrestling. Based on my years of observation, it seems like (within kayfabe) pro wrestling is something of a closed society , and one with a sense of frontier justice as well. The way a babyface gets revenge on someone who wrongs him/her is ultimately via inflicting punishment and proving his/her superiority over the foe in a professional wrestling match. Hence why it's almost exclusively heels who call the cops on someone in pro wrestling; calling the cops is inherently cowardly because it is a sign that you can't take care of business yourself. When a babyface does it, it's usually as part of a larger plan to use the threat of arrest to force the heel to face his/her justice in the ring (like Steph getting arrested for slapping Brie when Brie was kayfabe fired). Thus Regal is honor-bound to conduct the investigation himself.

My big issue with the storyline was the reveal. Rather than Regal solving the mystery himself we got deus-ex-crazy-Scotish-woman, which also resulted in several weeks (maybe even over a month) of the entire story being "Nikki knows but won't tell anyone" and it was just weeks and weeks of Nikki hopping around backstage singing "I know, I know" while Regal somehow managed to suppress his frustration and not scream "JUST TELL ME ALREADY YOU STUPID COW!"

I thought that Nikki whole deal was not just going to be a pointless red herring but rather that one of them (probably Ciampa) had done an entirely different evil deed and that was what Nikki saw, which would have set up Ciampa's feud for that TakeOver while Gargano faced Aleister Black.

Also... your thoughts on Dakota Kai?

Dude KO is so good. Joe is awesome too. I watched a match recently from NXT, I don't even remember who his opponent was, but he went to grab him from the corner for his signature corner slam and said "Sit your ass down!" It was just so good.

I guess you're right. I never really thought of it quite like that. It makes much more sense when you put it like that. But Regal said something about not being sure if Nikki actually knew or not because she's crazy, so he probably just discounted her. If I were in his shoes, it's probably what I would have done too- the woman can't even sit down to cut a coherent promo, I wouldn't expect her to put together a coherent and meaningful thought and tell the truth. It's just her character. I also kind of liked that Nikki was wandering around like she didn't give a f**k but as soon as Aleister showed up she was cowed instantly. Kind of made him feel like more of a badass.

I like Dakota Kai well enough, but I think the whole bit with Baszler where she was paralyzed with fear kind of killed it for me. I get it, she's the big scary bad guy, but if you're going to participate in a combat sport, you have to expect that people are going to be bigger and scarier than you. The fact that she even stopped dead in the middle of a promo because Shayna showed up just kind of killed it. I will fully admit, I haven't paid as much attention to the women's division as I should have been so I don't even remember if she got the one up on the big bad like she should have in a good babyface story. I'm terrible, I don't find the women's division all that compelling. I know I'm awful.

[Big Red Machine]

I guess you're right. I never really thought of it quite like that. It makes much more sense when you put it like that. But Regal said something about not being sure if Nikki actually knew or not because she's crazy, so he probably just discounted her. If I were in his shoes, it's probably what I would have done too- the woman can't even sit down to cut a coherent promo, I wouldn't expect her to put together a coherent and meaningful thought and tell the truth. It's just her character. I also kind of liked that Nikki was wandering around like she didn't give a f**k but as soon as Aleister showed up she was cowed instantly. Kind of made him feel like more of a badass.

I like Dakota Kai well enough, but I think the whole bit with Baszler where she was paralyzed with fear kind of killed it for me. I get it, she's the big scary bad guy, but if you're going to participate in a combat sport, you have to expect that people are going to be bigger and scarier than you. The fact that she even stopped dead in the middle of a promo because Shayna showed up just kind of killed it. I will fully admit, I haven't paid as much attention to the women's division as I should have been so I don't even remember if she got the one up on the big bad like she should have in a good babyface story. I'm terrible, I don't find the women's division all that compelling. I know I'm awful.

The week that Dakota had her big title shot against Baszler turned into something of a debate on the whole story in the review thread, so I was curious what side you came down on.


As for Nikki, have you gotten to what comes next for her yet?

[Serujuunin]

I guess you're right. I never really thought of it quite like that. It makes much more sense when you put it like that. But Regal said something about not being sure if Nikki actually knew or not because she's crazy, so he probably just discounted her. If I were in his shoes, it's probably what I would have done too- the woman can't even sit down to cut a coherent promo, I wouldn't expect her to put together a coherent and meaningful thought and tell the truth. It's just her character. I also kind of liked that Nikki was wandering around like she didn't give a f**k but as soon as Aleister showed up she was cowed instantly. Kind of made him feel like more of a badass.

I like Dakota Kai well enough, but I think the whole bit with Baszler where she was paralyzed with fear kind of killed it for me. I get it, she's the big scary bad guy, but if you're going to participate in a combat sport, you have to expect that people are going to be bigger and scarier than you. The fact that she even stopped dead in the middle of a promo because Shayna showed up just kind of killed it. I will fully admit, I haven't paid as much attention to the women's division as I should have been so I don't even remember if she got the one up on the big bad like she should have in a good babyface story. I'm terrible, I don't find the women's division all that compelling. I know I'm awful.

The week that Dakota had her big title shot against Baszler turned into something of a debate on the whole story in the review thread, so I was curious what side you came down on.


As for Nikki, have you gotten to what comes next for her yet?

I will go back and pay closer attention, and get back to you. I just finished War Games II, and I'm being delayed by RAW being on tonight so I probably won't make it as far as I want

EDIT: I see the debate. I don't like what they did with her character, for Dakota, but for Baszler, it was perfect. The whole thing was clearly done to get her over as the big bad, and it was effective... But it sucks for Dakota. That being said, I don't see why people are saying that the character is ruined. It's easy enough to do a big babyface return, and a story of redemption working her way up to the top. Have her start at the bottom, but she needs to show some more aggression and drive, and focus, and there you go. Ready-made redemption arc with a big babyface win at the end. I don't think any character is ruined beyond repair in WWE, there's only ones that people give up on. And the bad ones obviously, but that's a different can of worms altogether.

[Big Red Machine]

I guess you're right. I never really thought of it quite like that. It makes much more sense when you put it like that. But Regal said something about not being sure if Nikki actually knew or not because she's crazy, so he probably just discounted her. If I were in his shoes, it's probably what I would have done too- the woman can't even sit down to cut a coherent promo, I wouldn't expect her to put together a coherent and meaningful thought and tell the truth. It's just her character. I also kind of liked that Nikki was wandering around like she didn't give a f**k but as soon as Aleister showed up she was cowed instantly. Kind of made him feel like more of a badass.

I like Dakota Kai well enough, but I think the whole bit with Baszler where she was paralyzed with fear kind of killed it for me. I get it, she's the big scary bad guy, but if you're going to participate in a combat sport, you have to expect that people are going to be bigger and scarier than you. The fact that she even stopped dead in the middle of a promo because Shayna showed up just kind of killed it. I will fully admit, I haven't paid as much attention to the women's division as I should have been so I don't even remember if she got the one up on the big bad like she should have in a good babyface story. I'm terrible, I don't find the women's division all that compelling. I know I'm awful.

The week that Dakota had her big title shot against Baszler turned into something of a debate on the whole story in the review thread, so I was curious what side you came down on.


As for Nikki, have you gotten to what comes next for her yet?

I will go back and pay closer attention, and get back to you. I just finished War Games II, and I'm being delayed by RAW being on tonight so I probably won't make it as far as I want

EDIT: I see the debate. I don't like what they did with her character, for Dakota, but for Baszler, it was perfect. The whole thing was clearly done to get her over as the big bad, and it was effective... But it sucks for Dakota. That being said, I don't see why people are saying that the character is ruined. It's easy enough to do a big babyface return, and a story of redemption working her way up to the top. Have her start at the bottom, but she needs to show some more aggression and drive, and focus, and there you go. Ready-made redemption arc with a big babyface win at the end. I don't think any character is ruined beyond repair in WWE, there's only ones that people give up on. And the bad ones obviously, but that's a different can of worms altogether.

I thought they took it took far for a believable redemption angle. Dakota just came off as SOOOOO pathetic and completely unsuited to a career as a combat athlete to me.

[Serujuunin]

The week that Dakota had her big title shot against Baszler turned into something of a debate on the whole story in the review thread, so I was curious what side you came down on.


As for Nikki, have you gotten to what comes next for her yet?

I will go back and pay closer attention, and get back to you. I just finished War Games II, and I'm being delayed by RAW being on tonight so I probably won't make it as far as I want

EDIT: I see the debate. I don't like what they did with her character, for Dakota, but for Baszler, it was perfect. The whole thing was clearly done to get her over as the big bad, and it was effective... But it sucks for Dakota. That being said, I don't see why people are saying that the character is ruined. It's easy enough to do a big babyface return, and a story of redemption working her way up to the top. Have her start at the bottom, but she needs to show some more aggression and drive, and focus, and there you go. Ready-made redemption arc with a big babyface win at the end. I don't think any character is ruined beyond repair in WWE, there's only ones that people give up on. And the bad ones obviously, but that's a different can of worms altogether.

I thought they took it took far for a believable redemption angle. Dakota just came off as SOOOOO pathetic and completely unsuited to a career as a combat athlete to me.

And that’s when you need a character to take a break from TV for a bit, and come back with aggression and a mean streak. Make it clear that in her time off, she improved as a person and will no longer tolerate being walked all over by anyone, let alone Shayna who’d taken so much joy in it. Have her win matches aggressively, and decisively. You have to do it right, but if you do, it will pay off. But you have to do the slow burning, long game.

[Big Red Machine]

I thought they took it took far for a believable redemption angle. Dakota just came off as SOOOOO pathetic and completely unsuited to a career as a combat athlete to me.

And that’s when you need a character to take a break from TV for a bit, and come back with aggression and a mean streak. Make it clear that in her time off, she improved as a person and will no longer tolerate being walked all over by anyone, let alone Shayna who’d taken so much joy in it. Have her win matches aggressively, and decisively. You have to do it right, but if you do, it will pay off. But you have to do the slow burning, long game.

If they had done it this way then I think it would have worked. Alas, they didn't.

[Serujuunin]

I thought they took it took far for a believable redemption angle. Dakota just came off as SOOOOO pathetic and completely unsuited to a career as a combat athlete to me.

And that’s when you need a character to take a break from TV for a bit, and come back with aggression and a mean streak. Make it clear that in her time off, she improved as a person and will no longer tolerate being walked all over by anyone, let alone Shayna who’d taken so much joy in it. Have her win matches aggressively, and decisively. You have to do it right, but if you do, it will pay off. But you have to do the slow burning, long game.

If they had done it this way then I think it would have worked. Alas, they didn't.

Is she still with WWE? I’ll be honest, outside of the main roster I don’t know much. If they’re still having trouble with her, they could still do it. It’s not like they haven’t waited years and years to capitalize on a story before.

[Big Red Machine]

And that’s when you need a character to take a break from TV for a bit, and come back with aggression and a mean streak. Make it clear that in her time off, she improved as a person and will no longer tolerate being walked all over by anyone, let alone Shayna who’d taken so much joy in it. Have her win matches aggressively, and decisively. You have to do it right, but if you do, it will pay off. But you have to do the slow burning, long game.

If they had done it this way then I think it would have worked. Alas, they didn't.

Is she still with WWE? I’ll be honest, outside of the main roster I don’t know much. If they’re still having trouble with her, they could still do it. It’s not like they haven’t waited years and years to capitalize on a story before.

Yes. She's been on NXT UK and I think had some sort of leg injury a few months ago. I think she was on TV too long after the Baszler thing without moving at all in the direction your suggested that it makes it impossible to tell that story at this point.